Can Spurs push playoff streak to record heights? Predictions here
2. LaMarcus Aldridge hoists 100 3-pointers
This summer was an especially entertaining one for the San Antonio Spurs and the fans alike. Somewhere between the always-positive hypotheticals centered around what the younger Spurs would do this season and challenging the growing belief that this would be the season the 22-year playoff streak would end, we thought we had it all figured out.
But there was always one question we’d have to wait to answer: would LaMarcus Aldridge buy into the hype of the 3-pointer?
It’d be unwise to use a two-game preseason sample to gauge a player with over 1,000 games played under his belt. And tigers don’t change their stripes, especially tigers that make five All-NBA teams (use your imagination here).
But if the first two games of this 2019-20 preseason are of any indication, even slightly, we can expect to see Aldridge come out with his guns a-blazing a bit more than in seasons past.
In each of those games’ opening plays, we’ve seen some variation of a pick-and-roll with either Dejounte Murray or DeMar DeRozan; the defense sags back a bit and without any hesitation, Aldridge is letting the deep ball fly.
The result? He’s shooting a perfect 100 percent this preseason, a little bit more than Stephen Curry can say at this point.
https://twitter.com/spurs/status/1181717662050766848
The truth is, he’s only 2-for-2. But, seeing Aldridge stroke the long shot is all the more inspiring, considering the questions about how San Antonio’s spacing (or potentially lack thereof) would play out this season.
Remember, all of this is coming after Aldridge himself declared we’d see “same old me” in his Media Day presser. We’ve discussed in detail about how there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, except that it’d mean we would be lucky to a 3-point attempt every other game and at sub-30 percent marks.
From an everything-but-analytics point of view, 2013-14 feels like the premier season of Aldridge’s career. The stars aligned — in this case Damian Lillard — and actually stayed healthy for one of the few times in his career. As a result, he made the All-Star Game, surpassed career highs and drove his team to the second round for the first time since 2000.
Analytically, though, one might argue that the two most complete seasons of Aldridge’s career came once he embraced the 3-point shot.
The following season, Aldridge hoisted 105 3-point attempts — his highest prior to that was just 28 — and he hit those at a respectable 35.2 percent. And then in 2017-18, the redemption season, he took 92 shots from deep. Those led to major upticks in his true shooting percentages.
The key to accuracy seems to be found in the thinking. Personally, Aldridge has been my favorite player since childhood. In the past, he always struck me as the type of player you’d consider an “over thinker.” The type that needed to have a bad game, get talked about and then refocus himself to dominate the night after (see in particular his early postseasons).
If he can get into the rhythm of just catching passes and letting them fly, it’s easy to imagine Aldridge hitting in that 35 percent range on 100 or more attempts. Second Spectrum tells us that the 7-time All-Star averaged about a dribble per touch at 0.81 last season.
For those 3-point attempts, it’d be nice to see him carry his preseason momentum into the regular season and lower that number.
Last season, he took just 42 attempts. But, with this many offensive creators, as well as the idea of it keeping him from having to play at the dreaded center position, let’s say Aldridge shoots a long range shot or two per game and remains just as steady as he’s always been.